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Underground > Radio & Music >

"Marah Leaves Philly For The U.K."

15:02 / 03.01.02

So there's an article on the new Marah record here, where they talk about working with Owen Morris & ditching Philly & their old sound. I honestly don't know if I'm looking forward to this, what with quotes like "This record is about reaching 16 year old Japanese girls, not Springsteen fans".

Anyways, they'll play at the Writs on Jan. 14th--is this broadcast in Wales? Or the rest of the U.K.? Anybody care to clue me in if they're any good or not? Bueller?

15:53 / 03.01.02

The fucking Writs?

Arf! They've already been delayed about five times because no-one wants to play them.

But according to this, they will be broadcast live on the Web.

However, what with them being in South Wales, I wouldn't bet on it. They couldn't organise a piss up, even if it was in the Brains Brewery!

12:25 / 30.01.02

Well, I would say that as a Philadelphian, I am now gleefully waiting for them to fail, but frankly "Kids in Philly" was a damn good album, and I really am curious as to what they'll do next...

15:33 / 31.01.02

Well, I would say that as a Philadelphian, I am now gleefully waiting for them to fail, but frankly "Kids in Philly" was a damn good album

Hell yeah! Shit, listening to "Kids In Philly" made me want to move to Philly. After the first couple of listens, I thought "Y'know, this is like "Ulysses" in the respect that, should Philly be wiped from the face of the earth, you could re-build the whole damn town from listening to this album".

I can certainly understand why they want to do the "big rock 'n roll monster album" thing (after all, "Kids In Philly" only sold 25,000 copies, not to mention that nobody else on the board seems to know who these guys are), but Dave gave up the banjo. They had such a unique Philly-style Mummers sound with that thing and they ditched it. Why?!?!

And for anyone who's interested, I've got a 2 CD soundboard recording of their "Kids In Philly" CD release party. Private Message me if you want a copy (it may take awhile--I'll have to borrow my parents' CD burner). Here's the setlist:

Nighttime
Catfisherman/Magic Bus
Point Breeze
Sleepwalkers/Reservation Girl
Round Eye Blues
Christian Street
My Heart is the Bums On the Street
Can't Stand It Any More (The Velvet Underground)
Faraway You
After the Implosion
C'mon
The History Of Where Someone Has Been Killed
Formula, Cola, Dollar Draft
Transcendental Blues (w/ Steve Earle)
State Trooper (w/ Steve Earle)
West Nashville Boogie (w/ Steve Earle)
Eventually Rock
Rain Delay
Can't Hardly Wait (The Replacements)
You Keep A Knockin'
Acquiesce

03:27 / 19.03.02

<dusts off thread>

Here's some news on Marah. It turns out they've pretty much wrapped up recording and are starting to do gigs again. Last week, they played at SXSW & got an upcoming gig in Red Bank, NJ.

Also, they'll be playing London next month: April 11th-13th at the Borderline.

Here's a really good gig review from their last gig in London last year, in case you need further enticing.

14:48 / 19.03.02

Tt. I thought you were talking about Mariah Carey. I was relearning the Mental Health Act especially.

19:18 / 21.03.02

quote:Originally posted by Ganesh v4.2:
Tt. I thought you were talking about Mariah Carey. I was relearning the Mental Health Act especially.

Nope, but from the prima-donna crap they've been saying in the press, I guess I can understand the mix-up.

It's really disheartening to hear one of your bands spouting idiocies like:

"I've become a big fan of damn near disposable pop music," says Dave, outing himself as a recent convert to church of Kylie Minogue.

Their songs might be the main course, but it sounds like they like eating their words, too.

17:54 / 08.05.02

Well the former kids in philly have released their first single. I can't link you to the actual over-produced single, but played live (i.e. better) it sounds a little like...

this

It's not bad. In fact, if I had no preconceived expectations of Marah, I'd be pretty impressed.

19:49 / 10.05.02

BTW, the release date's been pushed all the way back to July because they took extra time to cut the single "Float Away" with Bruce Springsteen. Hey gridley, they're playing Y-100 FEZtival & Asbury Park Music Festival if you're interested. And I honestly don't know if this is the funniest or stupidest cover art I've ever seen:

And regarding the 16 yr-old Japanese girls.....

14:54 / 11.05.02

oh holy sheee-it! the asburty park mf?! oh that's great, that's right where i live...two questions: when, and whose going (this applies for the Y100 fest too, i can get there right quick)?

01:49 / 12.05.02

oh holy sheee-it! the asburty park mf?! oh that's great, that's right where i live...two questions: when, and whose going (this applies for the Y100 fest too, i can get there right quick)?

I wish, but I'm stuck in Madison. Here's the 411 on the Asbury Park Music Festival (May 25th @ Convention Hall, 3:00 PM):

"FEATURING: SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY AND THE ASBURY JUKES, PETE YORN,
GRAHAM PARKER, DAVE EDMUNDS, DAN BERN, MARTIN SEXTON, SLOAN,
MARAH, HIGHWAY 9 AND MORE...

MULTIPLE STAGES IN CONVENTION HALL AND THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE,
ASBURY PARK MEMORABILIA, VENDORS IN THE ARCADE. "

TicketBastard ordering info here

As for the Y100 FEZtival, good luck. Their site says that it's sold out

02:16 / 12.05.02

thank you for enabling my laziness MW, you rock.

i thought the APMF was a strictly jaz event. maybe i'm thinking of something else. Southside Johnny? sheesh... eew, i might have to sit thru Pete Yorn? i don't know when i'm getting off work that night so...hmmmm.

06:18 / 14.05.02

Well, I just checked their official site (www.marah-usa.com) and they have the whole album up (2 months early!) in RealAudio format. I just found this out, so I haven't made a full judgement yet. Besides, I'm far more interested in what you tabula (ma)ra(h)sa's have to say about it.

But I will say this: the track "Soul" is a fantastic summer tune. I've listened to it about 4 or 5 times in a row now and it still sounds fresh. "You're so not alone as you're walking down the street/Cause soul is your lover/There ain't no other/Walk on my brother 'til we move in perfect soul..."

This link should bring you to the RealAudio page (http://www.marah-usa.com/stream_popup.html), otherwise use the link above.

17:35 / 15.05.02

I don't want to come off as negative here, but did they ask their producer to make them sound exactly like Smashmouth?

Personally, I don't have a problem with that. Smashmouth is ok.

Aw, heck, I guess I'm bitter.....

17:47 / 15.05.02

oh, and thanks for the concert heads ups, MW. Those are both concerts I've frequented in the past, but haven't heard a thing about this year.

The Asbury Park one sounds good, but I'd have to score a ride out to the beach....

13:43 / 06.06.02

Yo, tour dates announced:

Fri 06/07/02 Philadelphia, PA The Khyber
Wed 06/12/02 West Hollywood, CA The Troubadour
Tue 07/02/02 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
Tue 07/09/02 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
Wed 07/10/02 Philadelphia, PA The Khyber
Thu 07/11/02 Cambridge, MA T.T. The Bear's
Tue 07/16/02 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
Wed 07/17/02 Philadelphia, PA The Khyber
Thu 07/18/02 Cambridge, MA T.T. The Bear's
Fri 07/19/02 Sea Bright, NJ Tradewinds
Sat 07/20/02 Port Jefferson, NY Village Pub
Tue 07/23/02 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
Wed 07/24/02 Philadelphia, PA The Khyber
Thu 07/25/02 Cambridge, MA T.T. The Bear's
Fri 07/26/02 Trenton, NJ Conduit
Sun 07/28/02 Asbury Park, NJ Stone Pony
Tue 07/30/02 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
Wed 07/31/02 Philadelphia, PA The Khyber
Thu 08/01/02 Cambridge, MA T.T. The Bear's

15:07 / 06.06.02

Back to wednesday nights at the Kyber. That's refreshing anyway. How is the albumb growing on you, Margin?

16:23 / 06.06.02

Well, I'm not as excited about it as I used to be, but it's starting to grow on me. Right now, I'm probably more excited about Bruce Springsteen's new reunion record w/ the E Street Band. My overall impression is that alot of it reminds me of mid-80's Cheap Trick, especially "One On One". I'm not saying that as a dis to either Marah or Cheap Trick, but to the production. I'm not a Britpop fan at all and it's almost too much work to try and find the real song under all of the gloss & sheen. Frankly, if I wasn't already a fan, I wouldn't be giving these songs a second chance.

I have no doubt that these will be killer live, but the record itself ain't doing it for me just yet. I've got a feeling that there was a fallout between Owen Morris & Marah that will no doubt come out after the album is released. "Float Away" reminds me of a disco version of "Blame, etc." by The Afghan Whigs--in a really good way. "Soul" is the song I love the most. "Leaving" & "Crying On An Airplane" I really dig as well. The only one I can honestly that I hate is "Shame", which really bugs the shit outta me. The female vocals aren't bad, but it seems like (enter name here) was added as some kind of marketing tool, like Gwen Stefani singing on Moby's "South Side". At any rate, like Bob Marley said, "I'm still waitin'..."

09:51 / 13.06.02

Robert Christgau reviews "Float Away With The Friday Night Gods" in the Rolling Stone link below. I suppose I should mention that it got 3 stars, but it's a moot point as it's the editors of Rolling Stone award the number of stars, not (God forbid!) the person who actually listened to the damn thing.

Christgau's review--as Bob Mould once said, "It's nice to be on The Dean's list"

And I keep forgetting to mention that Mark Boyce (Delta 72, Boss Hog, etc.) is playing the Hammond B-3 for them at gigs now. Also, the tour dates in July are on a weekly rotation (Tues=NYC, Wed=Philly, Thur=Boston).

16:40 / 13.06.02

seemed like a pretty fair review.

00:06 / 04.07.02

Marah recently did a in-the-studio interview/gig at NYC's finest radiostation WFMU.org which just got archived in RealAudio. Right now, it's on this recent archives page (Under the "Trash, Twang & Thunder" pgm. in the "Wed." column), but will no doubt end up on this page sometime soon: special archives (this last link has live shows by pretty much any current band/DJ that's worth a good goddamn right now. Miss it at your own peril). If the show's not on on any of those pages, hopefully this link'll work: http://www.wfmu.org/listen.php?show=3954.Marah's segment doesn't kick in until roughly 1 hr & 40 mins into the program, so you might want to slide the progress bar on top (or whatever it's called) ahead a bit.

The tracks are:
For All We Know We're Dreaming
Leaving
Float Away
What 2 Bring
Revolution

And speaking of radio, they're going to be on World Cafe on July 8th, on Q101 in Chicago on July 21st & doing an in-store @ the Broad St. Tower Records in Philly on July 15th.

18:31 / 16.07.02

The new one, "Float Away With The Friday Night Gods" just came out today.

You're still here? Fuckin' go get it, punk!

02:37 / 29.07.02

Marah's going to be on NBC Nightly News on August 1st. Yeah, *that* NBC News. They're doing a story on how hard it is for underdog bands to get on the radio and get some exposure.

And you can buy the new CD at Best Buy for a measly $10. Isn't it worth a measly $10 to find out what I'm ranting and raving about? Well, isn't it?

(puts on "Screaming At A Wall" by Minor Threat, relates)